Generally, freestanding Liquid Propane gas (LPG) heaters are used for heating a patio. However, the conventional LPG patio heaters do not operate with an optimal efficiency to adequately heat a sizable area. Also, in the presence of wind the efficiency of the LPG patio heater is further reduced. Additionally, the conventional LPG patio heaters are bulky and, are therefore, hard to move around. Moreover, the LPG patio heaters have to be periodically refilled.
LPG patio heaters have approximately 40% energy conversion rate and they heat only the area surrounding the subject object. Also, LPG heaters can be safely used only outdoors. Besides, the cost to operate an LPG patio heater is approximately eight times greater than a Short-Wave-Infrared (SWI) heater.
Some of the existing SWI heater systems for heating a patio are wall mounted SWI heaters, or tripod mounted SWI heaters. Wall mounted SWI heaters limit the area, which can be heated by them, to the area adjacent to the wall it is mounted on. SWI heaters that are not mounted on walls are those that are mounted on a simple tripod stand. Such tripod mounted SWI heaters require that the tripod be immediately adjacent to the heating area which is not a practical arrangement for a typical patio heater scenario because the tripod stand can get in the way and can become obtrusive.
SWI heaters have an energy conversion rate of approximately 92% and can be used indoors or outdoors. SWI heaters directly heat an object and not the air around the object. However, this means the object to be heated must be in the path of the infrared light waves. Wall mounted and tripod mounted units are often not capable of being in close enough proximity to the objects to be heated.
Therefore, there is a need for a system for heating a patio which has an efficiency of a SWI heater and has a support assembly that is non-obtrusive.